Title

Sticky Situation

Problem Scenario

I am trying to figure out which gum brand of spearmint flavor lasts the longest.

Broad Question

Which gum brand's flavor lasts the longest?
Specific Question
What gum brand of spearmint gum's flavor lasts the longest?

Hypothesis

It is hypothesized that the brand 5 gum’s flavor will last the longest, for about 60 minutes.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable:

The gum brand

Dependent Variable:

How long the flavor last (min.)

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

1. The flavor of the gum (spearmint)
2. The amount of gum given
3. The age group of subjects used (middle school)
4. Given the same instructions
5. The gum was chewed in calm way
6. The timers

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

• Diabetes: A disorder of metabolism

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General Plan

Potential Problems And Solutions

The timers dying, the solution was to if the timers died, time on a clock until the trial is over and add the amounts of time together.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

Some safety concerns would be choking, allergies, or diabetes.

Experimental Design

(add the correct headings from the experimental design pagebefore beginning)


At least 6 or more willing people will be chosen to be blindfolded and given a piece of gum to chew. The blindfold will be kept on until the piece of gum is put into the person’s mouth. The people will be allowed to go wherever they want when the gum has been put into their mouths, but they will carry around a stopwatch with them. When they think the gum is out of flavor, the person will stop the timer, go see the experimenter and then the data will be recorded. The steps will be repeated until each trial has been done with all five pieces of gum.

Resources and Budget Table

Item	Number needed	Where I will get this	Cost
5	1 package (15 pieces)	Walmart	$1.28
Stride	1 package (14 pieces)	Walmart	$0.96
Trident	1 package (18 pieces)	Walmart	$0.96
Orbit	1 package (14 pieces)	Walmart	$0.96
Extra	1 package (15 pieces)	Walmart	$0.96
Timer	6 or more	Mr. Yahna	Free

Detailed Procedure

1. Gather the materials: 5 gum, Stride gum, Extra gum, Orbit gum, Trident gum, Blindfold, stopwatch.
2. Make permission slips and hand them out to 6 or more people.
3. Once the permission slips are in, gather the 6 or more willing volunteers, who handed in their permission slips, to help with the procedure part of the project.
4. Take two or three people at a time, at the beginning of the school day and blindfold them.
5. Unwrap a few pieces of gum.
6. Put one piece of gum into each of the volunteers mouths. (NOTE: Don’t let any of volunteers touch the gum with their hands)
7. Allow them to take the blindfold off and go where ever they need to go.
8. Start the stopwatch and let them chew the gum until the gum is out of flavor.
9. Once the gum is out of flavor, stop the stopwatch and record the data.
10. Allow them to spit out that piece of gum (if they already haven't).
11. Repeat all the steps until all of the volunteers have taken their turn, and each one of the gum’s data has been recorded.
12. Throughout the whole experiment, pictures will be taken with a camera.

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Data Table

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Data Analysis

Graphs

Photos

Materials Used

The Gum

Results

The average time of the 5 gum’s flavor lasting was 79 minutes and 2 seconds. The average time for the Stride gum’s flavor was 62 minutes and 8 seconds. For the Trident gum’s flavor, the average time was 49 minutes and 50 seconds. Orbit gum’s average time was 58 minutes 42 seconds, and Extra gum’s average was 45 minutes.

Conclusion

This experiment was designed to test which spearmint gum brand’s flavor lasts the longest in minutes. The results show that 5 gum’s flavor lasts the longest. The average time for 5 gum was 79 minutes and 2 seconds. The other averages were, Stride with 62 minutes and 8 seconds, Trident with 49 minutes 50 seconds, Orbit with 58 minutes and 42 seconds, and Extra was 45 minutes.

Discussion

This experiment was set up to see which of the 5 different spearmint gum brand’s flavor lasts the longest. The results of the experiment did answer the question. Overall, the gum brand 5’s flavor lasted the longest. It had been hypothesized that the gum brand 5 was going to last the longest. The results did support that hypothesis. For the gum brand 5, the average time was 79 minutes and 2 seconds. The gum brand Stride’s average time was reduced 62 minutes and 8 seconds. For the gum brand Trident, the average time was reduced again to 49 minutes and 50 seconds. The gum brand Orbit’s average time was raised to 58 minutes and 42 seconds, while the last gum brand, Extra, was reduced to 45 minutes. These results were not perfectly consistent. In one trial for the gum brand 5, one result was 122 minutes and 1 second, while in another trial for the same gum brand the result was 44 minutes and 44 seconds. The data that makes it hard to identify any pattern or cause and effect between the independent and dependent variables is, for Trident, Trial 5 it was 26 minutes and 13 seconds, and for Trial 6 it was 86 minutes and 25 seconds. There was also the gum brand Extra, Trial 2 it was 26 minutes and 51 seconds, while Trial 3 was 65 minutes. It was noticed that the gum brands with both natural and artificial flavors lasted longer than the gum brands with only artificially flavored gum brands. In the previous research done before the trials were run, it was said that 5 gum and Stride were going to last the longest. There was a previous experiment done with the same results as this experiment.
The problems that were managed in this experiment was choking, allergies, and diabetes. There was one major problem that was managed during this experiment, and that was when some of the timers died, while the trial was being run. The experiment and design operation did change; it changed by instead of having the person in the trial being blindfolded and the gum being put in their mouth, the trials were just run by the people being given a piece of gum to chew and were also given a timer to time how long the flavor lasts until. This experiment could have been done sooner than it was, to give more time to fix the problems that were caused. It also could have used different timing solutions. Stopwatches were used during this experiment but some of the stopwatches died during a trial, but the time was still accurate.
The knowledge that was gained from this experiment that could be of benefit or use to people or society could be used for just natural knowledge about what gum brand of spearmint gum’s flavor would last the longest. This knowledge would mostly be of use for gum chewers or people who just love to chew gum that’s flavor last the longest. It might help solve the problem of buying gum that lasts only for a few minutes, it would help them buy the right spearmint gum brand for long lasting flavors. This experiment could lead to a good future for people who love to chew gum and love long lasting flavors. A new question that could be asked is: What flavor of the brand of 5 gum makes people focus more in class or while they are taking a test?

Background Research

• “Five has the most flavor. It is good and lasts a long time. The Stride gum lasts a long time but the flavor is not as good as 5 gum.”
• “There are many types of chewing gums on the market today that promote a long lasting taste. Some of these include sugar free Trident gum, Extra, Juicy Fruit, 5 Gum, Orbit, zebra gum, Big Red and other popular gum flavors.”
• “Though a widely disputed topic, popular opinion states that the brand of gum that lasts the longest is 5 Gum. Many people also believe that Stride lasts very long and it is also very affordable.”
• “Yes, everyone says 5 gum is the longest lasting flavored gum, but I am doing this for my science experiment and I would say so far stride has the longest flavor, and Juicy Fruit lasts the shortest, and 5 gum, well it tastes the best”
• “Stride! i did my science project on it and tried ever gum brand known to man and stride and 5 are best but stride keeps its flavor longest and don't get orbit! if you chew it too long the gum dissolves and is disgusting!”
• “5 gum lasts the longest its blue and green are good, 5 lasts the longest out of all of them. For favorite flavor I would have to say hubba bubba cotton candy! But that gum has lots of sugar and the flavor doesn't last very long.”
• I noticed that all the websites I found said the same thing, that the two best gums were 5 gum and stride.
  
  

References

• "Question ." Yahoo Answers. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2013. <answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090223200201AAsLWDu >
• "Science Fair Project: Which Gum Lasts the Longest." Hub Pages. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2013. <http://virginialynne.hubpages.com/hub/Science-Fair-Project-Which-Gum-Lasts-the-Longest >
• "What Brand of Gum has the Longest Lasting Flavors." Ask. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2013. <http://www.ask.com/answers/79966501/what-brand-of-gum-has-the-longest-lasting-flavors >
• "What Brand of Gum Lasts the Longest has the Best Flavors." Create Debate. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2013. <www.createdebate.com/debate/show/What_brand_of_gum_lasts_the_longest_has_the_best_flavors >
• "What Gum has the Longest Lasting Flavor." Wiki Answers. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2013. <wiki.answers.com/Q/What_gum_has_the_longest_lasting_flavor >.
• "Which Brand of Gum Flavor Will Last the Longest." Ask. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2013. <www.ask.com/answers/58904821/which-brand-of-gum-flavor-will-last-longer >

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to find out what gum brand’s flavor lasts the longest. It was hypothesized that 5 gum’s flavor would last the longest for about 60 minutes. A group of middle school people were each given a timer to start when a piece of gum from one brand was given to them to chew calmly until the flavor was gone. When the flavor was gone the timers would be stopped and the steps would be repeated until every gum brand was chewed. The average results were: 5, 79 minutes; Stride, 63 minutes; Trident, 50 minutes; Orbit, 59 minutes; and Extra, 49 minutes. The data showed that 5 gum’s flavor lasted the longest.